Did you know that Braveheart 2 was released in 2020? It’s not what you’d expect

Roberto Bruce was released in 2020, an unofficial Braveheart 2 which continues the story in an unexpected way. While Brave heart ended with the death of William Wallace, the sequel continues with another actor from the original film in the lead role. Angus Macfadyen reprises his role as Robert from the critically acclaimed 1995 epic, in the first moments of Robert’s life, before the final battle of Bannockburn. Where Brave heart follows the life of Gibson’s William Wallace, Roberto Bruce follows the life of the oppressed Robert of Macfadyen before his accession as king.

Similar to Mel Gibson Brave heartwhich the star also directed, Roberto Bruce was written for the screen by Macfadyen alongside writer Eric Belgau. Although not a direct sequel to Brave heart, Roberto Bruce operates as a sequel in its own right, as it details Scotland’s ongoing war with England as they fight for their independence. Both films have this in common as their plots revolve around this war. It is a story of redemption that aims to sympathize with Macfadyen’s Robert and his poor decisions made in Brave heart, where he betrayed William Wallace and fought on the side of the English.

How Robert The Bruce Works as a Braveheart Sequel

The sequel follows Robert The Bruce after the death of William Wallace

Reflecting on the final act of Brave heartWilliam Wallace is captured in 1305, taken to the place of execution, hanged, disemboweled and finally beheaded. William Wallace’s horrific death was used as an example and means of breaking the spirit of Scotland. Instead, his death helped inspire the revolt that Robert led at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, ultimately winning the war with England. What this loose sequence tries to capture is the period of time between Wallace’s death and the battle of Bannockburnin some ways, with Macfadyen 25 years older, although the exact timeline is a bit skewed.

Roberto Bruce It depicts just a condensed slice of King Robert’s life, beginning in 1306, a few years after the death of William Wallace. It begins with a crownless Robert, discouraged and ready to lay down his arms among other soldiers. Wounded by soldiers whose loyalty is easily swayed by the gold offered as a reward, he is taken in by a widowed peasant, Morag. While hiding from his pursuers, he regains his health.

Eventually, Robert discovers that Morag’s husband fought for him in the war and died after being brought home with an amputated leg. Despite this, he remained loyal to Robert’s cause during his final days, as did his family. Their loyalty inspires Robert to take up arms again and eventually become king.

Robert The Bruce Couldn’t Live Up To Braveheart

The small-scale follow-up fell short of the original epic

​While Brave heart tells its story in epic proportion, Roberto Bruce it exists only as a chapter. The film expands this part of Robert’s life into a feature-length film, but it only feels like an epilogue to something bigger. Many missed opportunities in storytelling come to mind with attempting a spiritual approach. Brave heart sequence.

Most of the film consists of Robert’s inner turmoil, his recovery, and how ordinary people’s lives are affected by the war, which almost looks good on paper. However, more than fifty minutes are spent with Robert still injured in a cave with a spider just before he meets Morag. Furthermore, the film focuses its biggest key moments heavily on Morag’s 11-year-old son, Scot, who can’t carry the weight of an underwhelming story. Robert is often just a passenger in his own story, staying in the background.

Roberto Bruce tries to capture the heart of Brave heart but falls to the floor. The central antagonist in Brave heart is a king, unlike the local sheriff, Brandubh, Morag’s brother-in-law, who only picks fights he knows he can win. No epic battles, none Brave heart’The faces are painted blue and instead what is delivered is just a handful of mercenaries terrorizing three children, a peasant widow, a wounded king, and the blacksmith’s daughter.

In the end, all these mercenaries accomplished was killing the blacksmith’s daughter, one of the few brave women in the film with too little screen time for her death to mean anything. As a Braveheart 2compared to Brave heartis a much quieter reflection on war, suffering and petty tyrants.

Other films you didn’t know had sequels

Disney released several lesser-known sequels

Little-known sequences:

Although it may seem like a sequence of Brave heart would receive much more attention, there are a number of sequences that have gone unnoticed, leading fans to forget they exist or never know they happened. As with Braveheart 2some of these sequels are much smaller films with tenuous ties to the original and are often released as direct-to-video sequels.

A memorable example of this is American Psycho 2starring Mila Kunis as the new protagonist assassin. Reportedly, this was originally a film that had nothing to do with American Psycho but the connection was made as a last-minute decision. To make everything even more controversial, Patrick Bateman appears in the film, although not fully shown (Christian Bale did not reprise his role), and is quickly killed off. The critically derided sequel also decided to answer whether the ending of American Psycho actually happened, which was best left open-ended.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Disney also began a trend of creating direct-to-video sequels to some of its most popular titles. Aladdin he picked up The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, The Lion King he picked up The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, and The Little Mermaid he picked up The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. While some of these sequels were better received than others, none of them received the level of acclaim that their original films did.

There are also those sequels that seem to have nothing to do with the original and simply seek to capitalize on a recognizable name. Sam Mendes’ Jarhead was a serious war film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a soldier suffering from a mental breakdown during the Gulf War. Despite the film depicting how soldiers like Gyllenhaal’s character never fired their weapons during the war, there were three direct-to-video episodes Jarhead sequels that are full-on action movies.